Kuno national park in India has been chosen to reintroduce cheetah to India. This is (to be clear) good news. Cheetah were an important part of the Indian fauna, but were driven to extinction by human hunters.
So what is the problem?
Well quite simple. The area is thought to be able to support 20 cheetah based on the area. However, unfortunately at the moment, Chital density is roughly 20 per square kilometre. While this sounds very healthy, in actual fact, the park hosted an average of 60 Chital per square km in just 2014.
This means that for what-ever reason, the Chital population are heavily depressed. This population needs to be able to rebound if it is to support 20 cheetah.
At the current time, this expert suggests that the reserve cannot support more than 15.
These cheetah are due to be released from their large enclosures into the greater Kuno in the next few weeks. Annoyingly, a tiger has been seen in the area (the reserve is not perfect habitat for a tiger, so there is no permanent tiger population) so some delay will occur to allow this animal to move on.
